BooksBarbecue
Back Baggage Claim Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. 1. One
  2. 2. Two
  3. 3. Three
  4. 4. Four
  5. 5. Five
  6. 6. Six
  7. 7. Seven
  8. 8. Eight
  9. 9. Nine
  10. 10. Ten
  11. 11. Eleven
  12. 12. Twelve
  13. 13. Thirteen
  14. 14. Fourteen
  15. 15. Fifteen
  16. 16. Sixteen
  17. 17. Seventeen
  18. 18. Eighteen
  19. 19. Nineteen
  20. 20. Twenty
  21. 21. Twenty-One
  22. 22. Twenty-Two
  23. 23. Twenty-Three
  24. 24. Twenty-Four
  25. 25. Twenty-Five
  26. 26. Twenty-Six
  27. 27. Twenty-Seven
  28. 28. Twenty-Eight
  29. 29. Twenty-Nine
  30. 30. Thirty
  31. 31. Thirty-One
  32. 32. Thirty-Two
  33. 33. Thirty-three
  34. 34. Thirty-Four
  35. 35. Thirty-Five
  36. 36. Thirty-Six
  37. 37. Thirty-Seven
  38. 38. Thirty-Eight
  39. 39. Thirty-Nine
  40. 40. Forty
  41. 41. Forty-One
  42. 42. Forty-Two
  43. 43. Forty-three
  44. 44. Epilogue
  45. Afterword
  46. Also by
  47. Acknowledgments
  48. About Author

“I liked talking with you tonight,” I said. “You make me feel…normal.” It was a small opening, a crack into my feelings for him.

“You are far from normal, Grinchy. But I adore it.”

A sleepy smile spread across my cheeks, and I shoved my face in my pillow to keep from audibly squealing. I was sixteen all over again with Finn.

“Well thanks, I guess.”

“You are terrible at taking compliments. You need to be more confident. You’ve got a lot to offer. Flaunt it, Olive.”

I muttered, “You can thank my ex for that,” and cursed my broken filter, wishing I could retract what spilled out. But I didn’t have the energy to watch what I said.

“Is he the reason you won’t touch anyone with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole?” I picked up on the Grinch reference but didn’t acknowledge it.

“We should probably go to sleep,” I said, ignoring his question.

“I know what you’re doing, and you’re lucky I’m too tired to keep asking. But don’t think this conversation is over.” Finn yawned again, and I pictured his tired puppy-dog eyes.

“I’ll let you go, goodni—”

“Stay on here. We can both go to sleep but just…stay here. It’s comforting.”

I tried to not overthink everything he was asking, but my heart kicked my ribs with his words. What was happening here?

“Oh. Okay.” I didn’t argue or protest, only sleepily laid my head on my pillow and drifted to sleep with my phone cradled in my hand like I was holding Finn.

When I woke a few hours later, I immediately checked to see if I was still on the phone with Finn. But our call had ended, and I had a text from him at six thirty.

Hottie from 15B: I had to hang up when I started getting ready, didn’t want to wake you. Happy day three, Grinchy. I’ll see you tonight.

21. Twenty-One

image-placeholder

I stretched my arms up and rubbed the sore spot in the back of my neck. I let out a loud noise that was a mix between a groan and a yawn.

“Did you not sleep?” Cooper asked, handing me my fourth cup of coffee.

“Nope. Too busy with Olive.” My tone wasn’t suggestive, but it could be misconstrued that way. And judging by Coop’s sly grin, he took it as such.

“So, my moves worked then, huh?” He sipped his coffee and raised his brows.

I rolled my eyes and regretted it thanks to the headache I had from lack of sleep. “Not like that. We just stayed on the phone all night.”

Coop looked at me confused. “So y’all didn’t…”

“Nope.”

“Huh. So, you really like this girl then.”